


Shino

by bamfiruka



Series: Revelations [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Kyuubi Discovery, Shino is the first one to find out fight me on this, seals master Iruka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 04:32:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5854369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bamfiruka/pseuds/bamfiruka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aburame Shino sees more than he lets on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shino

Aburame Shino sees more than he lets on.

It’s something that Kurenai-sensei had encouraged in him, and something that Kiba bemoanes constantly when Shino points out that no matter what ‘natural’ perfume he tries to wear, he is going to keep on smelling like a dog. Akamaru puts in his own whine of protest, and sneezes for the fourth time in an hour, protesting his partner’s unnatural scent.

Kurenai-sensei evaluates their team as whole, and Shino sees her nervousness even though she had been hiding it. He thinks that it’s probably because Hinata, Kiba and himself are the first genin team that she is going to mentor. Uncertainty in a shinobi is not something that boded well, and Shino confronts her about it, wanting to know if she is really the best choice for teaching himself and his teammates.

Kurenai had looked at him for a long few seconds before telling him that he should hone his observational skills for the future. It might be something that saved his or his teammates lives, in the future.

Neither Kiba nor Hinata seem to notice anything.

Kurenai starts teaching them, and he starts teaching himself, straining to see and understand everything that is going on around him. He hopes that he gets better at it with time, and Kurenai arranges for him to have an afternoon with a masked woman who points out people’s ticks and tells from the roof of a building on the perimeter of a marketplace.

So, Shino’s observational skills are enough to pick up on very subtle things like how the owner of a weapons shop spits and refuses to let Naruto in when the group of them – Shino, Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Naruto – had elected to go on a group shopping run after the chuunin exams. Naruto had needed to stock up for the extended mission he was going on in a few days, and Shino wants some more weapons to feel a bit more comfortable; his kikaichuu are still struggling to recover from the losses that they had sustained from the fight after the exams. It would be a few weeks until he was back at full strength. It isn’t the shop that they’d usually go to, but that had been crushed under a giant snake, so they’d had to compromise.

Shino watches his teammate’s reactions silently, as he is wont to do. Kiba is offended, and Hinata is even managing to get up a bit of colour in her defence of Naruto. Sakura opens her mouth to say something, but Naruto silences her with a quick shake of his head. Sakura quiets reluctantly, and Shino sees habit in the gesture. This is not the first time that Naruto had been rebuffed, apparently.

When he suggests that they go elsewhere, Naruto stammers something about waiting outside, that it was fine, that they shouldn’t worry about him. Sakura hits him over the head that time, and Kiba huffs before grabbing Hinata’s arm and dragging her away from where her protests had become quite loud for her – which was normal speaking volume for everyone else.

Shino ponders over the event as they wander down the wrecked streets of Konoha, trying to find somewhere else they could supply themselves with arms. Naruto is loud and over the top like normal, but Shino had seen something in him that he hadn’t ever come across before when Naruto had mumbled that they could go in without him.

His curiosity is piqued.

He spends a few days chewing over the information that he had. Naruto’s mumbling. Sakura’s half resigned pout as she closed her mouth just as she was about to yell at the owner of the store. The disgust on the shopkeepers face. Back in the Academy, before Iruka-sensei. The substitute teachers and how they treated the young child. The way that the other children had treated him, before Iruka-sensei had shown them that Naruto shouldn’t be treated any differently. How Shino himself had acted, avoiding the boy because everyone else did, because of the way his father’s bugs buzzed unpleasantly when Shino talked about the golden haired boy. It made him feel uncomfortable, and it made him even more determined to find out why exactly Naruto was treated like this.

With the other boy out on his mission, Shino does some digging. He classified it as his own in-village reconnaissance mission, to see how easily he can gather information about something that is most likely meant to be kept secret.

He gets nowhere. The younger people he asks just shrug when he asks about Naruto, and the civilians mainly spit or refuse to talk to him, giving him a cold shoulder. No matter how subtly he approaches the topic, as soon as any mention of Naruto is brought up, the civilians ignore him, and the older ninja evade his questions easily. Some of them give him level looks, and he quickly changes the subject or ducks away.

Approaching his father offers no further answers. He pauses when Shino asks, then turns to face him, the glasses over his face concealing more than his pensive expression.

“I don’t normally advise you against asking questions,” his father says slowly. “But in this case, I must insist, Shino. This is not something you need to be asking about. Do you understand?”

He doesn’t understand, and his frustrated silence most likely tells Shibi that and more.

Shibi sighs. “Shino. I mean it. Do not ask more questions about this. It is not something that can be brushed off easily; there will be serious consequences.”

Shibi stares into his son’s eyes. Shino stares back, but his father doesn’t waver. Shino can almost imagine his father’s beady eyes, seriously considering his only son.

“Very well, father,” Shino eventually says. “I will not ask any questions.”

Shino can almost see the way his father’s mouth quirks. “No questions? Just remember that, Shino. No questions.”

Shino leaves the room, facts ticking over in his head.

It’s a while until he makes a breakthrough. Ironically, he had given up on searching for any information, and is just helping Hinata to study as she begins her med-nin training with her already excellently refined chakra control that is needed for the gentle fist style.

Hinata had asked for a few books, and while flicking through one to check to see if it was correct, he finds a picture of a young med-nin with purple Inuzuka like markings on her cheeks, a roll of scrolls in front of her. Standing behind her is a smiling man with bright yellow, spiky hair and blue eyes.

Shino’s first thought is that he looks like Naruto. Then he checks the caption: it reads ‘ _Nohara Rin and Namikaze Minato.’_

With that, he recognises the Fourth Hokage. He shakes his head and puts the idea out of his mind. There’s no way that the Fourth is related to Naruto. He died giving up his life when the Nine-Tails attacked, thirteen years ago.

The idea sits in the back of his mind for a while, scratching at him. He finally goes back to the library in order to do some research on the Fourth, and finds that accounts of the Nine-Tails attack are very rare. He digs until he finds a reference for the date in a scroll about another matter altogether. _October 10._ Something about that niggles at him, like it’s important. He thinks it over for a long time before sneaking into the Academy one night to find the files that they keep there of the children.

There is one for every member of his class, but the place where Naruto’s should have been is conspicuously empty. Shino does not think that it is a mistake.

He creeps out, disturbing nothing, and nearly runs into Iruka-sensei, who is standing outside of the main door.

Iruka doesn’t say anything immediately, just raises one eyebrow, looking very unimpressed. Shino flushes and ducks his head.

“Shino-kun. I’ll admit, when I felt my wards being tripped, I expected to find someone who is currently in my class to be behind it. Not someone who has already left.”

Iruka doesn’t ask _why_ he’s here, although Shino thinks that he has a very good reason to. He studies his former teacher, sees the tiredness in his eyes and the looseness of his clothes. He must have been sleeping when Shino had broken in, which means that his wards are very, very good indeed. The estimation of his former teacher’s skills rise somewhat.

Iruka had always been willing to listen to any of his students, even if he’d spent more time scolding Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru for not following the rules or their bad grades more often than not. Shino can only remember him being kind and fair, and perhaps that is why his mouth opens of its own accord.

“Iruka-sensei? Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Iruka says, voice a bit kinder than it had been. “I assume it has something to do with this?”

Shino nods silently and Iruka sighs lightly. “Okay. Let’s find somewhere a bit warmer though, alright?”

Iruka leads him to a bar where the man behind the counter is missing an eye and an arm. They sit in a booth and Shino can feel the jutsu of the place wash over him. Iruka must sense his uneasiness, because he explains.

“It’s soundproof. Customers come here for privacy, and it doesn’t come cheap. Got great food, though.”

Shino shifts slightly. “You didn’t have to, Iruka-sensei.”

Iruka waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. I designed the soundproof seal, and in return I can pretty much show up whenever I want. I even get a discount on the alcohol.”

Shino blinks. Iruka designed seals? He hadn’t known that about his former sensei.

“Now tell me why you’re breaking into the Academy at two in the morning.”

Shino taps his fingers on the table, uneasy now that he has to speak of what he’s been mulling over for the last few months. His kikai chitter gently, sensing his agitation, getting ready to fight if they need to. He spends a second to calm himself and his colony down. Iruka is looking at him worriedly, and Shino realises that he couldn’t know that he was calming his bugs down. He must just appear unwilling to talk.

“My father said that I shouldn’t ask questions,” Shino says, not knowing why he’s being open ended with Iruka. Although, if it were anyone else, he doesn’t even think they’d be having this conversation at all, in any form.

“Then you shouldn’t,” Iruka says, propping his head on his hands. “Ask any questions.”

Shino ducks his head slightly as he starts to smile. “I see.” He takes a moment to gather his thoughts. “I noticed… something odd. About one of my teammates.”

Iruka nods, and Shino continues, a bit bolder. “It escaped my notice in the past, but Kurenai-sensei has been teaching me to look and really see what is happening around me. I won’t stand up to Hinata’s Byakugan, of course, but I can read people. See what they mean to say.”

“That’s a valuable skill, if you can cultivate it,” Iruka says quietly. “Undercover missions need that type of skillset from the ninja that complete them.”

Shino nods. “Yes. So, I began to realise that Naruto is treated… differently, by the villagers.” Iruka says nothing, so Shino pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and continued. “When I examined my actions in the past, I saw that I had also copied these reactions. Not just from civilians, but from my father and other children as well. And I questioned why this was. I received no answers, only warnings.”

Iruka stares at him for a long moment. “Well. I suppose we couldn’t keep it from the younger generation forever. You’ve grown more than I’d thought, Shino-kun.” He still hasn’t said anything about Naruto, or why the villagers act the way that they do. It only serves to frustrate him more. Why? Why was a person he respected vilified by the village?

“You father was right in telling you to not ask questions,” Iruka continues. His eyes are solemn as he talks. “And I support that. Serious repercussions will happen if you do, do you understand?”

Shino still doesn’t know what is going on, but Iruka clearly does. “But…” He tries to say. Iruka cuts him off with a shake of his head.

“Shino. I rather appreciate my head, and I’d like to keep it, so I can’t tell you anything more.” His head? Did he mean that he’d be killed if he told Shino anything else? “But I believe that you are clever enough to work this out, if you really want to.” Iruka tugs on his ponytail, and Shino automatically classifies it: _nervous habit_. “Naruto needs more people to understand. I understand why the villagers act as they do, but sometimes…” Iruka trails off, staring at the space over Shino’s head. The he shakes himself slightly and looks back at Shino. “What’s Naruto’s birthday?”

“I… don’t know,” Shino admits.

“Perhaps you should investigate,” Iruka suggests, face blank, like he isn’t circumnavigating a village law to tell him this. “It might be important.”

“Thank you, Iruka-sensei,” Shino says. A hint. It’s more than he’d gotten since he’d seen Naruto’s face when the shopkeeper refused to sell to him.

“It’s no problem,” Iruka says lightly. “Just remember; no questions.”

Shino nods his understanding.

~

He goes to Sakura next. He doesn’t think that Sasuke would know his teammate’s birthday, and Kakashi-sensei would likely know why he was asking. Naruto is back in the village, but Shino thinks it prudent to avoid asking the very _loud_ ninja about what he wants to know.

“What?” Sakura asks, frowning at him. “Um, I don’t know his birthday. Sorry.”

Shino wants to grit his teeth; how long have they been on a team together now? But he doesn’t. “Can you find out?”

Sakura is looking at him weirdly. “You could just ask him yourself, you know.”

 _No questions_. “I… could, but I am arranging something, and do not wish for Naruto-kun to find out.”

“Like a surprise?” Sakura doesn’t look very impressed, but she promises to try and get the information out of him.

Sakura comes back to him put out and confused. “I don’t know why you wanted to know, but you put Naruto _and_ Kakashi-sensei into a funk. You owe my team ramen.” But she tells him anyway. _October 10._

It takes him an hour to remember where he saw that date before, and then it all clicks into place.

He looks up information about the Nine-Tails next, very careful to make sure that no one in the library notices what he’s checking out. The information in the books are scant, and it infuriates him more than anything. Useless. What he does find out, he already knows; the Nine-Tails is a spirit of destruction, it destroyed much of the village thirteen years ago, and it’s been alive since there were people for it to kill. In one scroll, he reads half a sentence that seems to imply that it is sealed within a person to stop its destructive power, and yet keep it for the power of the village.

Shino rolls the scroll shut and thinks over everything that he’s found out.

He buys Team 7 their ramen, and is regaled by Naruto’s thanks, Sasuke’s not-as-cold-as-it-used-to-be silence, Kakashi’s eye smiles, and Sakura’s acceptance of the chaos. He watches alarmingly as Naruto devours bowl after bowl, resigned to the toll the outing was going to take on his wallet. He brushes his shoulder against Naruto’s, and sends one of his scouting bugs over, just to make sure.

By the time he’s walking off from Team 7, his kikai has returned, and he knows that there is a demon sealed inside his teammate. The hatred of the village makes a little more sense, but Shino still thinks that it is unacceptable. Naruto had been a child when everything happened! He spends a week with his kikai constantly chattering, on edge. He cannot decide what to do about what he has found out, and it doesn’t help that he can speak about it with none of his teammates. _No questions._ He’s pretty sure that it means _No Answers_ as well. He can’t tell anyone about what’s he’s found out. He’s still thinking about what to do with the information that he has when he comes back from a mission with his father and finds out that Sasuke has defected, and that many of his teammates have been injured in an attempt to bring him back. He sits with Kiba and Akamaru in the hospital and thinks that Sasuke doesn’t deserve what he has in these people.

Naruto leaves the village with one of the legendary Sannin, and Shino knows that it is as likely to control the Kyuubi as it is for Naruto. He runs into Iruka-sensei one day while shopping by himself. His teacher initiates the conversation, and after a few routine ‘How are you?’ questions, Iruka asks if Shino had found out what was bothering him.

“I did, Iruka-sensei,” Shino says lightly. “Thank you for your information. It helped.”

“And what do you think?” Iruka’s tone is even, but Shino sees the fierce protectiveness in his eyes.

“I think that most of this village needs to revaluate their priorities. Why? Because they do not see sacrifice when it is right in front of them.”

Iruka turns his head away, and when he looks back there is no emotion in his eyes, but he nods, deeply. “It is I who must thank you, Shino-kun.”

“I will do my best to protect him,” Shino says quietly. He is still angry that he was not there to provide support when Sasuke left. He will repent for that, in blood and fire if he has to.

Iruka just smiles at him slightly, like he knows what’s going through Shino’s head. 

**Author's Note:**

> Shino is the first one who finds out about Naruto. No one will ever be able to convince me otherwise.


End file.
